World Cup
2026-07-10 - Spain vs Belgium
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: World Cup Quarter Final
Friday 10th July 2026 - Kick Off 12pm (PST)
British Time 8pm
Spain
They would have felt they had been the better team and certainly the one that was more positive in the approach taken to the Last 16 tie, but Spain still had to wait until injury time before finally breaking Portugal's resistance. A lot of questions have been left for the vanquished opponent, but Spain are into a first World Cup Quarter Final since 2010 and the European Champions are doing it very differently than may have been expected.
Some of the football being played is very eye-pleasing and Spain have been able to get forward and create chances, but the win over Portugal came off the back of another clean sheet. That makes it 5 in a row at this World Cup and 6 in a row in all World Cup Finals matches and gives Spain a foundation from which they can become very difficult to beat.
Spain have won 4 in a row at the 2026 World Cup and they will take great encouragement from the defensive numbers being produced. This is a team backing that up in the final third, but Luis de la Fuente will still be hoping to see more composure when the chances are created and Spain have been wasteful at times.
Nico Williams has been hoping to recover from the nasty challenge that an Uruguay player put on him at the end of the Group Stage match, but missed the game against Portugal. There have been positive reports that Williams will return, but doubts remain.
Predicted Line Up: Simon, Porro, Cucurella, Cubarsi, Laporte, Rodri, Pedri, Olmo, Yamal, Baena and Oyarzabal (4-3-3)
Belgium
There was a huge amount of controversy in the build up to Belgium's Last 16 tie against co-hosts United States when Folarin Balogun's suspension was overturned by FIFA at the request of President Trump. Statements were made trying to justify the decision, but there is no doubt that it is one that angered almost everyone in football, including the Belgium officials.
With that in mind, the Belgium players came out with a huge amount of motivation and ultimately crushed the United States 4-1 with a dominant performance. It is by far and away the best Belgium have looked in the tournament having been virtually eliminated in the Last 32 when trailing 0-2 against Senegal and being outplayed for large portions of that fixture before two late goals forced Extra Time and a late Penalty helped the Belgians progress.
Belgium are unbeaten in 18 games, but there was not the same amount of expectation on this squad ahead of the 2026 World Cup as there has been in recent years. Perhaps that has allowed the players to perform with some freedom, but matches against Egypt, Iran, New Zealand, Senegal and USA may not have prepared them for this kind of challenge in the Quarter Final.
Some surprising decisions were made in the starting eleven for the Last 16 tie against the United States with both Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku missing out. The former played no part in the win, and there may be some injury concern around De Bruyne who was withdrawn before the hour mark against Senegal. Amadou Onana picked up a serious injury that will take months to overcome.
Predicted Line Up: Courtois, Castagne, De Cuyper, Mechele, Ngoy, Vanaken, Raskin, Tielemens, Doku, Trossard and De Ketelaere (4-2-3-1)
Head to Head
Spain and Belgium are meeting for the first time since 2016 when the former won an international friendly.
The last competitive fixtures were played in the 2010 World Cup Qualifying Group when Spain won both games played (1-2 away, 5-0 at home).
Prediction
There would have been plenty of anger and irritation inside the Belgium squad after hearing that FIFA were going to allow United States' best attacker to play, despite being sent off in the previous Round.
Motivation from that would have been easy to find and you could see from the performance in the 1-4 win in Seattle that Belgium had a point to prove.
Credit has to be given to the manager for being able to make some big decisions when leaving out some of the top names for that win over United States. While the previous Belgium manager failed to do the same in his role with Portugal at this tournament, Rudi Garcia is doing what he can to make sure his Belgium team have the energy and quality to continue working at the 2026 Finals.
Kevin De Bruyne may not be given the start again, although a position has opened up after Amadou Onana's unfortunate injury.
Despite that, Belgium may choose to go with a more hard working midfield trio ahead of this big Quarter Final against a Spain team that have continued to be very tough to break down.
Luis de la Fuente will still want to see more out of the Spain attackers who have created big chances, but been wasteful in front of goal. Nico Williams continues to be a huge miss for the Spanish, but Spain have still looked dangerous and they will take much more out of the Senegal performance against Belgium than the one the United States produced.
Belgium have to be respected and the team have rallied together, but Spain are very balanced and that makes them a threat to win it all.
Both teams will feel they can hurt the other, but Spain's defensive numbers have impressed and they can go through in a game where striker Mikel Oyarzabal is likely going to have at least one shot on target.
The Pick :
Spain 2-1 Belgium
